Material handling apparatus



April 11, 1944. D. c. CROY MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Filed 001:. 9, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet l .HI L.

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Patented Apr". 11, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MATERIAL HAN DLING- APPARATUS Dalton 0. Grey, Oak Park, Ill., assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 9, 1942, Serial No. 461,485

1 Claim.

This invention relates to material handlin apparatus and more particularly to a strip inverting apparatus for use in rolling mills.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple mechanism for'expeditiously inverting material without damaging the edges of the material.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, two series of pivoted arms are provided with cooperating shoulders whereby, when a strip of stock is tilted by one of theseries of arms, it will be prevented from sliding beyond a predetermined point during the tilting operation thereof, and mum held for engagement by the shoulders on the opposed series of arms which remove it from engagement with the first series of arms. The second mentioned series of arms is provided with rollers which will permit the strip to: slide off of the arms and onto a storagetable, to which the strip is being transferred from a roller conveyor.

A better understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view of a roller type conveyor and adjacent storage table equipped with an invertin and transferring apparatus made in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view view taken through the apparatus substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view of the left end of the apparatus as viewed in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings,. it will. be noted that there is provided a roller conveyor 5 of any suitable type down which strip stock, as indicated by the dot and dash lines 5, may be fed. The roller conveyor 5 is equipped with rollers 'l,.which may be driven in any suitable manner. usual to. such types of apparatus, the rollers being positioned between supporting plates 8 and, 9 extending longitudinally of the conveyor 5, and the rollers being spaced one from another, as is usual in such structures. The mechanism comprising the novel features of the invention is designed to transfer a strip 6 from the roller conveyor 5v to. a storage table I 0, which may be mounted uponthe upper ends of fluid actuated pistons ll. sothat the table may be raised and lowered to facilitate the stacking of strips Eupon it. The table is provided with a series of stop bars I 2 for preventing stock, if it accidentally slides-onto the table too rapidly, from travelling off the left edge of the table, as shown in Fig. 2.

Positioned between the storage table Hi and the conveyor 5, is a rock shaft l5 suitably journalled in bearings l6 and i1 and having fixed to it a driving lever ill. The driving lever I8. is pivot ally connected. by means of a'pin l9 to a piston 20 slidably mounted within a cylinder 2i. The cylinder 2! is pivotally mounted on trunnions 22- 22 in a bearing bracket 23, which may be suitably fixed to the floor of the rolling mill or to a cross member 24, which also supports the hearing it. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the cross member 24 supports the bearing bracket 23 and the bearing 16 to tie the two pieces together. i

' From the foregoing,v it is believed to be 313994? ent that when fluid under pressure is admitted to the left end (-Fig. 3) of the cylinder 2|, the lever I8 will be rocked counter-clockwise by the piston 20 and the cylinder M will, therefore, be rocked counter-clockwise with respect to the bearing bracket 23 to rotate the rock shaft 15 througha predetermined number of degrees in a counterclockwise direction.

: Fastened to the rock shaft I5 at spaced intervals along its length are a plurality of transfer arms 28, all of exactly the same construction, and each comprising a hub portion 29 encircling and fastened to the rock shaft l5. From. the hub portion 29, there extends a strip engaging tapered portion 30, which is narrow at its right end (Fig. 2) and wider adjacent the hub portion 29. The strip engaging portion 30 of the arm 28' has formed integrally with it an upwardly extending shoulder 3i, having a face 32 at right angles to the face 33 of the strip engaging portion 30, whereby, when the arms 28 are rocked in a countor-clockwise direction, a strip onthe rollers I will be lifted from the rollers I by the face 33. and as the arms rock toward a vertical position from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, the strip 6' will slide gently down the face 33 and into engagement with the face 32 of the shoulder 3!. The. travel of the arms 28 is from the position as shown in full lines in Fig. 2 to the position shown in dot and dash lines in the same figure and it should be noted. that in their normal position-as shown in full lines, the arms 28 are beneath the upper surface of the roller 1 but will travel upwardly between the rollers to pick up a strip lying on the rollers and carry it in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 2)

Cooperating with the arms 28 are aseries of arms 40, each of which is exactly of the same construction. and each of which comprises a hub portion M, a roller carrying portion. {v2 and. a

in the present embodiment of the invention these bearings are mounted on plates 49 and 5|) carried by channel members 5|5|, which are, in turn, supported by channel members 52, secured by the framework 53 which supports the conveyor 5.

Each of the roller supporting portions 42 of the arms 40 has a series of freely rotatable rollers 54 mounted on it so that when a strip 6 is trans ferred onto the rollers and the arms 46 are moved to the position shown in full lines ,in-Flg. 2, the

strip will rollsdown the rollers onto the storage table I6. Fixed to the shaft 44, between the bearings 41 and-48, is a lever 6|), which is pivotally connected to the upper end of a-piston rod 6|. The piston rod 6| carries a piston (not shown) within a cylinder 62, which is provided with trunnions 63-63 carried in bearings 64-64 extending upwardly from a lower frame 65 suitably attached to the conveyor framework 53.

.When fluid under pressure is admitted to the lower end of the cylinder 62, piston rod 6| will be forced upwardly and will rock the shaft 44 in" a clockwise direction (Fig. 2) to carry the arms 46 to the position shown in dot and dash lines (Fig. 2), where theshoulder portion 43 of the arms 40 will be out of the path of a strip 6 carried on the arms 28. Then, when the arms 28 are rocked rollers 1 to a position as shown in dot and dash lines in Fig. 1, may be inverted and transferred to the storage table by controlling the flow of fluid under pressure to the cylinders 2|, 62 and 18, suitable control mechanism (not shown) being provided for controlling the flow of fluid to the various cylinders. When the strip 6 arrives at the position shown at the bottom portion of Fig. 1, where it rests on the conveyor rollers 1, fluid under pressure may be admitted to the bottom (Fig. 2) of the cylinder 62 to move the piston rod 6| upwardly and, consequently, rock the shaft counter-clockwise, they will carry the strip into I engagement with-the rollers 54. After this operation has'taken place, the arms 4|) mayberocked back to'their full 'line position (Fig. 2) by admitting fluid under pressure to the upper end of the cylinder 62, thereby to carry the strip 6 off of the shoulders 3| and as soon as the strip 6 has been removed from the shoulders 3|, the arms 28 may be returned to their full line position (Fig. 2) by admitting fluid under pressure to the right hand end (Fig. 3) of the cylinder 2|. If it is desired to leave the bar 6 on the arms 46 in a substantially vertical position, the arms 28 may be returned to the full line position, as shown in Fig. 2, before the arms 40 are returned to their full line po sition. In order that this operation maybe performed, the shoulder 3| 'is rounded at such an angle that it will not move the bar 6 off of the shoulder 43 on arms 40. In this manner, the strips 6 will be transferred from the conveyor 5 to the storage table II) and in the event that the strips 5 do not slide completely off the rollers 54, they may be pushed over onto the storage table II) by a pair of pushers 1D and 1|, which are mounted on the upper ends of levers 12 and 13, the lower ends of which are fixed to a rock shaft '14; The rock shaft 14 has fixed to it, adjacentits mid point, a lever 16 pivotally 'connected to a piston rod'11, which is, in turn, adapted to be actuated by apiston (not shown) in the cylinder 18. The cylinder 18, like the other cylinders,is provided with trunnions 19journalled in trunnion bearings 80 suitably supported beneath' the conveyor rollers 1 on the framework 53. w

In thef-operation of the apparatus, strips 6, which are either fed by gravity or by driving the 44 and carry the arms 40 in a clockwise direction to the position shown in dot and dash lines (Fig. 2). After the arms 4|) have arrived at the just described position, fluid under pressure may be admitted to the left end (Fig. 3) of the cylinder 2| to rock the arms 28 counter-clockwise until the strip 6, which will be carried by the arms 28 off the rollers 1, engages the rollers 54' on the arms 40. In carrying the strip 6 to this position, the shoulder 3| will carry the edge of the strip up over the shoulder 43 and after the arms 28 have reached the position shown in dot and dash lines (Fig. 2), fluid under pressure may be admitted to the upper end of the cylinder 62, thereby to rock the arms 48 from the position shown in dot and dash lines to the position shown in full lines (Fig. 2). In rocking from the position shown in dot and dash lines to the position shown in solid lines (Fig. 2), the arms 40 will move the shoulders 43 through an arc such that the strip 6 will-be carried off the face 32 of shoulder 3| and will be prepared to roll down therollers 54 when they reach the position shown in full lines (Fig. 2) and onto the storage table ll). It should be noted that the strip 6 is at no time dropped from one position to another, but is transferred from the shoulder 3| to the shoulder 43 without any jarring of the strip tending to damage its edges.

If the'strip'fi' slides completely off the rollers 54 and all of the way onto'the storage table |0, no further operations are'necessary except to restore the arms 28 to the position shown in full lines in Figs. 2 and 3. If, however, the strip 6 does not move completely onto the storage table l0, it may be pushed into position on the table by actuating the pushers 10 and 1|. This is accomplished by admitting fluid under pressure to the right end (Fig. 2) of the cylinder 18 to rock the lever 16 counter-clockwise and, consequently, impart counter-clockwise movement to the levers 12 and 13 carrying the pushers 18 and 1| from the position shown in solid lines in Fig. 2 to the position shown, in dot and dash lines (Fig. 2.)

What is claimed is:

A strip inverting apparatus comprising a plurality of oscillatable arms having relatively long shoulder portions extending therefrom for receiving astrip, means for oscillating said arms to position to receive a strip, a second plurality of oscillatable arms each having a rounded shoulder thereon, and means for oscillating the second plurality of arms from a horizontal to a substantially vertical position to carry a strip into position on the relatively long shoulders on the first mentioned plurality of arms, said shoulders on the second plurality of arms being rounded on an are such that upon return of the second plurality of arms from said position, the relatively. long shoulder portions will hold the strip.

' DALTON C. CROY. 

